Business inspiration from different sources
Isn’t it great to find opportunities that relax and also inspire you? It’s not ALL business, ALL the time! (Don’t we teach what we need to learn? lol)
For instance, I attended a networking group meeting, last week, where the movie, “One man, one cow, one planet” was shown. It was about the journey of Peter Proctor, who is from New Zealand, and his travels to help the farmers in India create mineral rich soil that supports organic farming. It was a powerful testament to stepping outside of yourself and your culture to partner with and help others.
After the movie, the host Rosa led an engaging and rousing discussion around the topic of more healthful practices we can all participate in. I bet when I said I was at a “networking meeting” you NEVER thought of this, right? Smile
My point is, don’t limit yourself to the “typical” networking meetings that call for elevator speeches, business card exchanges, etc. You just may find deeper and longer lasting relationships at these “non-typical” meet-ups that result in more qualified clients (read: shared interests) or referral sources. And you just might be inspired a little, too!
Resource: You can find meetings like this at meetup.com!
How to uplevel your marketing!
In July, I traveled out to the west coast to spend the day with my mentor and coach, Adam Urbanski, the millionaire marketing mentor, to create my business and marketing plan for the rest of the year
At the end of my day with Adam, I was reminded of a quote I’d heard long ago and which so aptly describes where I am.
If I have seen further it is only by standing on the shoulders of giants – Sir Issac Newton
In the coaching and marketing area, Adam is recognized globally, as a “giant” for coaches, consultants and business owners of all types and that’s why I wanted to learn from him. I’m proud to invest in myself through Adam and honored to stand on such broad, knowledgeable and successful shoulders.
As you build your business and are ready to step up or uplevel who you are and what you do, you need to surround yourself with those who are ahead of you so that they pull you forward. But what is even more important, is that you align yourself with the mentor/coach who can challenge you to be the best you can be; and who gives you the resources you either don’t know exist or wouldn’t think of to help you be successful, faster. The investment in you through them is, well, priceless.
What’s your HUB?
Many solopreneurs, whether in their own business or part of a network marketing organization can and should establish what my mentor calls – your HUB – Hot Undeniable Benefit. That “benefit” truly sets you head and shoulders above the competition – where your prospects and clients will see you!
Equally as important is how you provide that “benefit” to your clients. I like to think of wrapping it all up in a big “Red Bow”…a gift they will value. Please understand, this is not about window dressing. There better be some good stuff under that bow, or you’ll never get another chance to erase that first impression!
So clearly identify your HUB, today, so that the benefits to your clients are compelling enough to take strike while the iron is hot!
Are you building your profitable community?
My friend and colleague, Kim Nishida is an expert in both communities and membership sites that help business owners connect, on multiple levels, with their clients and prospects.
She is a “profitable community advocate“, which means that she helps you not only create a online community who will benefit from your expertise and information, but to do so in a way that is profitable for you too!
If you’re considering adding a community/membership level of service to your business, there are 5 questions Kim advises you MUST ask yourself before you even THINK about getting started:
- Do you know what a membership site is? (hint: it’s a location on the Internet that houses information exclusively accessible to members)
- Who is your target market?
- What do they want vs. what do they need?
- How do they want it delivered?
- How much time are you willing to invest? (This includes time interacting with members and managing the community itself)
Of course an overarching consideration is in how creating this community relates to your business. Because it will involve time and effort in setting it up, promoting and managing it, and if it’s not aligned with your overall business vision and mission, you WILL NOT sustain it. And you don’t want to start what you can’t finish, right?
So if you’re interested in learning more, check out Kim’s free training where she goes into more depth and provides you with the “7 steps to launching a profitable community.” You can learn more at: http://readytoevolve.com/pc/
How to make money with your blog
After completing my 31 Day Blog Challenge, I received a few questions about “what’s next”, “will you keep it up”, etc. And I’ve been thinking about what’s next for me with the “joy of blogging.” I absolutely want to sustain my momentum! And so I came across this article by Neil Tallercio about “Making Money With Your Blog”.
I thought it would be valuable to share, following my blogging experience, especially for those who already understand the benefit of blogging to for traffic, list building and JV opportunities and want to know, as a solopreneur or small business owner, how to monetize it! Neil gives you a great example in her article, as well as some resources to use! I’m going to use a lot of her suggestions and will let you know what I learn!
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Making Money With Your Blog by Neil Tallercio | http://www.mommysplace.net/
I’ve sure you’ve heard before that it’s a possibility to make money with your blog and you may be wondering how this is possible. And were they really meant for making money or just for journaling your personal thoughts? I’m not sure what they were intended for but they are great ways to make money.
I have a personal blog which is just my own private little place to go online and jot down my thoughts, but I also have my business blogs.
Back In the Beginning
To be honest with you in the beginning of my blogging experience I really wasn’t sure what I should do with my blog. I knew I wanted to make money with it, but I didn’t know how. I didn’t know what I could do to not only be a value to others so they would come back to my blog, but that I would still enjoy writing it.
So it was really important to me that I find a topic in which I would be excited about, and have enough to offer so that I could blog every week or so. After starting a blog that was meant to just be an add-on to my business at MommysPlace.net and struggling with the direction of that blog, I came across one of Alice Seba’s blogs, which she used to write about her experience through a traffic product.
So every couple of weeks she would update her progress through this course. She would tell us all about her successes with this product and how great it was for her business. And it made me think of how I could do something similar.
Product/Service Focused Blog
And this is when the light bulb moment went off in my head. This is when I realized what I should have been doing all along. I have been a member of an exclusive coaching program for mothers in business.
Since joining this program my business has seen great success. My income has increased more then 10 times what it was before I joined, and my traffic has increased even more then that.
I enjoy and believe in this coaching program and it happens to have an affiliate program. I often got emails from other work at home mothers who wanted to know my thoughts on this program.
Taking a cue from Alice’s blog I decided to start my own such blog. And named it Mom Masterminds Grad and it can be found at [http://www.mmgrad.com]
I use this blog for the purpose of documenting my successes with my business. My projects, new content added to my website, keyword phrases I was ranking for…etc. Basically anything that has to do with my business that was directly or indirectly because of my joining Mom Masterminds, I jot down.
Not only was this the best move I could have made for my promoting this affiliate link it also served as a great way to really see for myself the successes my business was achieving and also to keep me on track.
This is one way you could make money with a blog. There are other ways you could make money with a blog if you don’t want to devote a blog to one service or product you’re promoting.
Side Kick Blog
For instance, my blog at [http://www.telecommutingmoms.com] is a side kick to TelecommutingMoms.com and my forums. This is a blog in which I update my members on additions to the website, newsletter and forums. And also use it as a vehicle for updating members on any important telecommuting news and promoting affiliate programs.
So this blog serves more then one purpose. My main goal with this blog is to get traffic to certain sections of my website. I have a large website and it’s not always easy for people to find my information. This is a great way for me to keep certain new pages or sections of my website in the public eye and get traffic to those pages. It also serves as a way to make money with affiliate programs. And lastly it gives exposure to my forum and my newsletter.
There can be many ways and, many topics in which you can make money and gain exposure to other businesses you may have, or can help in creating you as an expert in a certain field.
Just take the time to really think about what you could be writing about and then how you can make money with that as well. You can take a look at others blogs to get an idea and see what other people are looking for.
Making Money With Your Blog – Resources:
Blogs to Riches- is an e-book that details ways you can make your blog profitable. And the really cool thing with this is if you list the publisher’s link on your blog for 45 days he will give you this e-book for free! If you don’t want to wait that long you can also purchase it for a low price. Read more about Blogs to Riches – [http://www.blogstoriches.com]
Increasing Adsense – is an e-book about how to increase your adsense revenue. This e-book isn’t specifically geared towards blogs, but the information you will learn you can use with your blogs. (As well as websites and forums…anywhere you have adsense.) http://www.adsense-secrets.com
* Don’t know what adsense is? Go to http://www.google.com/adsense to learn more.
Ready To Blog?
Are you ready to take the leap into a blog? If so, it’s really very easy to set up a blog. The one resource I have used for my old blog is blogger.com and what I use for my current blogs is WordPress. Blogger is a great option for the newbie and you can host it with them. WordPress is a bit more complicated and must be hosted on your own domain, but it’s by far my most favorite option for blogs.
Submit Your Blog
After you create your blog you will want to submit it to blog directories to help get your blog out in front of the public. Some of the directories you can try are:
BlogWise – [http://www.blogwise.com]
Blog Search Engine – http://www.blogsearchengine.com
Blog Hub – http://www.bloghub.com
Blog Daisy – [http://www.blogdaisey.com]
Get Blogs – http://www.getblogs.com
Is Blogs – http://www.lsblogs.com
Feeds
Next, you need to add feeds to your blog. For adding a feed you add a little graphic to your blog. It can be a “my yahoo” feed, msn feed, or many other options.
When they click on that they can add your blog to their personal feed page. Then every time you add a new post they are alerted on their yahoo page that you have posted AND it even shows the topic of the post and how long ago it was posted.
This is one of the best resources I’ve found in keeping people coming back to your blog. They can subscribe to it so easily and they will be automatically updated whenever you have posted. It’s pretty easy to add an RSS feed to your blog. The resource I personally use is at http://www.feedburner.com
Watch Out Blogging World – Here I Come!
Now, see how simple this really can be? You can make money with a blog, gain exposure for another business or websites, can build yourself as an expert on a certain topic, can create a blog for free, get it listed for free and start an RSS feed for free! Now get out there and start blogging.
Want to learn more about Nell Taliercio, the author of this article? She is sharing the secrets that grew her business by 10fold in only one year!
Would you like to learn the simple actions that you can take from a solopreneur who created a continuous presence and flow of money into both personal and business accounts?
